Mat-Su won't outsource custodian and kitchen jobs, but layoffs still loom

Cheers greeted the Matanuska-Susitna School Board's decision to reject a contentious bid to outsource custodial and nutrition services jobs.

But the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is still proposing dozens of layoffs — including custodians — and unprecedented class sizes to offset a roughly $9.5 million deficit amid state and local reductions.

The proposed budget would result in the loss of 55 certified positions including teachers, counselors and all instructional coaches, Superintendent Monica Goyette said in an interview Thursday.

Class sizes could swell to as many as 35 students in elementary and middle schools and 40 in high school.

Other proposed layoffs include more than 35 part-time custodial employees, Goyette said.

Privatizing custodial and nutritional services jobs through a three-year contract to NANA Management Services would have saved the district $1.5 million this coming year and an estimated $2.2 million the year after, she said. Those savings were not factored into the district's preliminary budget.

The school board rejected the contract Wednesday night in an emotional 4-3 vote.

At several meetings, board members heard impassioned testimony in support of district custodian and kitchen workers from school staff, students and parents.

Custodian Mary Heideman is staff speaker at Colony High School's graduation ceremony because of the relationship she formed with students, librarian and 2017 class adviser Prudence McKenney told the board.

"Had we still been outsourcing from the last time we tried this disastrous thing back in 2008, they wouldn't know her," McKenney said.

NANA was granted a similar contract in 2008 that was not renewed.

A 2009 external audit found nearly all schools had the same level of cleaning under NANA and 40 percent were "well above" that standard, Goyette said. She was a principal at Teeland Middle School at the time and said the same custodians stayed at their jobs but took pay cuts to stay.

"Where is the disaster?" she said Thursday, adding that she respected the board's decision but also appreciated the custodians' performance through the prior privatization move.

The boroughwide budget approved Wednesday by the Mat-Su Assembly included a $1.5 million increase over flat funding for schools.

A record crowd of more than 200 people packed Assembly chambers Tuesday night, most of them to press for education funding.

The increase is half the amount the still-growing district assumed for its budget. Borough Mayor Vern Halter hinted Tuesday night he might veto the funding.

That could lead to additional cuts, Goyette said.

Now Mat-Su school district officials, like others around Alaska, are waiting on education funding decisions from the Legislature.

A state Senate proposal would reduce per-student funding by 5 percent. Vetoes from Gov. Bill Walker could also reduce anticipated revenues.

Board members voted to support a local sales tax in March to offset school spending reductions. The Assembly would need to put the tax proposition before local voters in October.

The borough clerk said Thursday she wasn't aware of any sales tax legislation in the works.